The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

Those carnival games look so simple and the prizes so big. Toss a ring around an old soda bottle and get a giant SpongeBob doll, hit a couple of shots and win an inflatable martian. Of course they aren’t that simple.

For whatever the reason, the rings never seem to land in the right place and bounce to the ground. The basketballs hit off crooked rims and land below.

These are the scenarios that will be played out during the next two weeks as a carnival takes root in the parking lot of the New Harbour Mall, or more appropriately a building that once resembled a mall.

But while the carnival will leave, the games at that site might not if city leaders and casino backers get their way.

Just as difficult as it can be to win at the carnival, the odds of casino success are no better than trying to get a dart to pop a balloon.

The parallels between the present and the possible future are striking.

Flashing lights and game tables lined with green felt will call players with the promises of grand prizes, seemingly larger than life. More likely those playing will plunk down their money and find the tiny ball spinning around the roulette table will land anywhere but the number they’ve picked. Hopes of landing the right cards to total 21 will instead go bust.

It doesn’t stop with the games. Mayor Will Flanagan has promised that the Maplewood Neighborhood Association will benefit from the carnival with a portion of proceeds going to the group. Promises have also been made that a Fall River casino will bring the jobs needed to lift the city out of the economic doldrums that have existed since the textile manufacturing industry that supported the city started to unravel.

Hopefully when it comes to the casino, Fall River residents aren’t being taken for a ride.

News and notes from the week.

— Republican 9th Congressional candidate John Chapman announced the endorsement of this former boss Mitt Romney.

Chapman served in the Department of Industrial Accidents during the Romney administration. In announcing the endorsement, Chapman issued a letter from Romney explaining his support and asking for donations to Chapman’s campaign. Chapman has also been endorsed by former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson.

— It was a decent week for the state of Massachusetts based on two different reports issued during the course of the week.

The news wasn’t as good when it comes to election performance, but study released by the PEW Charitable Trusts ranked the performance of elections in Massachusetts as 22nd in the nation. According to the report, Massachusetts received a 70 percent grade on the study’s election performance index, behind states such as Louisiana, Nebraska and Missouri. The index weighed metrics such as voting wait times, turnout, availability of online voter registration, required post-election audits and provisional ballots cast. Massachusetts’ EPI has increased 8% since 2008 and 6% since 2010.

— Congressman Joe Kennedy III is looking for submissions to the Congressional Art Competition, a nationwide high school visual arts competition. Among those that will choose the winning entry is Tiago Finato, president of the Greater Fall River Art Association. Submissions are due by May 2. More information can be found at Kennedy’s website.

— Rhode Island state Sen. Walter Felag Jr., whose district includes Tiverton, Bristol and Warren, joined with state Rep. Jan Malik to announce legislation they were submitting to reduce the state's current 7 percent sales and use tax. Having served as co-chairs of a commission that considered eliminating the sales tax, the duo said they will each submit two bills, one that calls for a straight-out reduction of the sales tax to 3 percent, while the other calls for a reduction to 6 percent. That bill, however, would maintain the current tax rate for meals and beverages; hotels; telecommunication services and motor vehicle sales. It would also eliminate the tax on utilities for all businesses, eliminate the tax on dog grooming services and make the temporary liquor and wine tax elimination permanent.

“I believe a reduction of our sales tax, through either of the means we are proposing, will be beneficial to our economy overall,” Felag said. “We have spent a couple years in the Senate enacting legislation to eliminate red tape and to make Rhode Island a good place to do business. But if people continue to shop in other states where it’s cheaper, we can eliminate all the red tape we want and businesses still won’t come to Rhode Island.”

The Politi-Beat Sunday roundup is a compliment to the Politi-Beat blog found at heraldnews.com and will appear weekly in The Herald News.